Spirits on the Floor
by RoseyEpidemic
Summary: When Sakura doesn't return from a mission, it's up to the remaining Team Kakashi to retrieve her.
1. Chapter 1

Spirits on the Floor:Part 1

"Kaka-sensei," Sakura called from the floor of her old teacher's one room apartment, a smile in her voice, "none of these pictures are very flattering." She cooed, rolling onto her back, pink hair falling around her like a halo, and falling over more images that had been scattered across the floor by Kakashi's bed.

_"Mah, what do I care, Sakura-chan," He groaned from the bed, head tilted slightly over the edge so that he could watch his former student roll around in her many images of team 7, "you know I don't like to get my picture taken."_

_ Sakura pouted up at him, her eyes growing bright with irritation, "How am I supposed to remember you fondly when I don't even have one good picture of you?"_

Kakashi rolled over in his bed, the room still dark from what must have been an overcast sky, his mind still played Sakura's snicker, and as he flopped his head over the side of the bed, he could still see her there, face triumphant with an image in her hand,

"Finally!" she had shouted, raising the image high into the sky, waving it about like it had been Tsunade's winning lottery ticket.

"Baka," he whispered, as the phantom image rolled away like smoke, leaving behind a plain white envelope; a spirit on the floor.

As Kakashi rose to his feet, an old untreated wound on his shoulder complained, and wet warmth told him the scab had broken as he stretched. There had been a heavy silence as Kakashi prepared himself for today's mission, in the harsh sound of the shower and the ruffle of cloth as he slipped on his flak jacket, and in the light crinkling of paper, as he gingerly picked up the envelope off the floor, and slipped it into icha icha.

"What's this?" Naruto gawked, Sai standing by quietly as Kakashi strolled casually into the hokage's office, only two minutes late, "what are you doing here Kakashi-Sensei?!" Kakashi planted his hands deep into his pockets, letting his posture slack,

"Sorry I'm late," Naruto's brow furrowed in anger as his mouth opened wide for protest, but just as he was about to demand just what Kakashi was doing being practically on time, if it were not for the agitated throat clearing that came from Tsunade.

"Now that we're all here," she began, resting her elbows on the desk, and clasping her hands together, "it's time we got down to business."

"What about Sakura?" Naruto asked, arms crossed and voice dejected after being denied his outburst, "isn't she coming on this mission?"

Kakashi's heart sank, Tsunade's gaze meeting his own, and a silence hung in the air for a moment before the hokage once more cleared her throat, avoiding looking at the younger team Kakashi members.

"Roughly twenty-four hours ago, Sakura Haruno's status went M.I.A."

"Why were we not alerted earlier about Sakura's disappearance?" Sai interjected almost immediately, his facial features not quite matching the inquiry in his voice, "shouldn't the team associated with a missing nin be the first notified in a situation like this?"

"Usually, yes," Tsunade nodded, her eyes shifting to look at the pale young man who'd spoken, "but Sakura was working a solo S-ranked mission, no one was supposed to know about the scroll she'd been instructed to carry or its contents inside."

Sai nodded, his root training helping him understand the situation slightly more than Naruto, who had silently been seething with fists balled since Tsunade had first spoken.

"ANBU has already been sent out to the last check point; the scroll was hidden there leaving us to suspect that Sakura had picked up on the ninja coming in on her."

"Any sign of which way they may have been heading?" Sai was looking towards the floor, his head bent, and voice softer than usual.

"Roughly six miles east of the check point ANBU was unable to continue following Sakura's trail."

"Alright then," Naruto stepped forward, tightening his headband and throwing out his hand with thumbs up, "we'll bring Sakura back in no time, Grandma Tsunade!"

"Oh, Naruto," Tsunade sighed, her eyebrows drawn in,

"Naruto," Kakashi stepped forward, clapping his hand onto the young man's shoulder, the pain echoing into his throat as he tried to look into those crystal blue eyes, "We're not going on a rescue mission; it's retrieval."

Stepping out of Kakashi's reach, Naruto looked between his two superiors,

"I don't understand," his eyes were frantic, his usually fast mouth was having trouble forming the words he needed to get out, "but…but it's Sakura…it's Sakura!"

"You don't think I don't hurt?" Tsunade snapped back, pulling a hidden bottle of Sake from under her desk, "but as Hokage, I had to make the decision to put my people before my heart, I put Sakura on this mission because I thought she could handle it. I never imagined this outcome to be a possibility."

"There has to be some way," Naruto barked, raging up to the Hokage's desk, and beating his fists upon its top, "some way we can bring her back…back.."

"Alive?" Kakashi finished, strolling up to Naruto, and once more placing his hand upon the young man's shoulder, "Sakura's a smart girl, we would have heard something by now if she was still alive, she would have sent something out to let us know she was okay."

"But what if she didn't have the time?" Naruto asked, a strange smile on his face, "yeah, what if these rogue ninja have her under surveillance and she hasn't been able to sneak out anything?"

"In cases of kidnapping shinobi, these ninja would only have to reasons to keep their hostage alive," Sia muttered, refusing to look up from his shoes, "if there hasn't been any hint towards a ransom at this point they would be trying to torture Konoha secrets out of her right now."

"Sakura would never let it get that far." Tsunade sighed, knocking back her first round of Sake, and pouring the next, "she was given a pill before she left for the mission that she had been instructed to take upon capture."

"So it's useless?" Naruto went limp, "she's gone?"

"Not completely," Kakashi's grip hardened on the boys shoulder, feeling the same despair weigh upon his own shoulders, "we're going to return her body back home, it's what she deserves."

Naruto nodded, before quickly turning and heading for the door,

"Then let's go."

It took eight hours to reach Sakura's last check point, eight hours filled with silence now broken as Kakashi called upon his hounds. There was no time for pleasantries, and as Kakashi asked Pakkun to follow an all too familiar scent of shampoo, a worried look crossed over the pugs features,

"You okay, boss?" he asked, resting one paw on the tip of Kakashi's shoes, "The girl…"

"We don't have the time, old friend," Kakashi sighed, "just help me bring her home."

With a curt nod, Pakkun sat expectant. Kakashi carefully revealed the envelope from his jacket, bringing it to his own nose first, before letting Pakkun take in the scent for himself.

"We'll find her boss," Pakkun grunted, after finally catching the scent, "don't you worry."

It was just after the sun set that the team stumbled upon a flickering light deep within the woods, even from their position loud voices could be heard down wind.

"Could that be them?" Sai questioned, wiping the sweat from his brow, "would they be dumb enough to let themselves get noticed like this?"

"They would if they were cocky," Kakashi muttered, "if they're willing to set up camp like this then it could mean we're facing big numbers. Shiba, Akino, fan out and investigate the perimeter."

The dogs nodded once and ran off in their directions as Pakkun and the others made the first moves to go ahead of the team.

"Shouldn't we fall back and wait for the ninken to come back with information?" Sai asked, walking casually beside Naruto who was still silent as the grave.

"No time, we're doing this quick, if there's anything too dangerous the dogs will contact us, this pace is slow enough." Throwing his hands behind his back, elbows pointed out on either side, Kakashi sighed, "As long as we don't exert any unneeded chakra we shouldn't raise any red flags for our targets."

"We're running out of time," Naruto finally grunted, "even if this is the fastest way to do things, we're still going too slowly!"

"We don't have a choice," Kakashi's voice was hard, "we can't go rushing into these things, no matter what's involved."

"Sakura could still be alive," he spat, "she could still be alive and we're just walking around!"

Kakashi slammed Naruto into the nearest tree, the force causing it to bow and splinter slightly; he slapped his hand over Naruto's mouth before talking in a harsh whisper,

"She's dead!" Naruto moved against Kakashi's hold, trying to mumble through the older man's fingers.

"She's dead!" Kakashi repeated, pressing Naruto harder into the tree, "there's nothing I can do for her now, except keep the two of you safe!" Kakashi released Naruto, turning his back to the young man, and thrusting his fists deep into his jacket pockets, "Just stay out of trouble, Naruto, for Sakura's sake."


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Thanks for reading, this is the first time I've ever written any sort of action scene so please give me feedback. There should be an epilogue after this chapter but please rate and comment letting me know what you think! Enjoy!**_

**Part 2**

When the ninken returned, they had counted five ninja surrounding a fire in a valley hidden within the forest, and four more sleeping in the makeshift camp. With Sai responsible for the sleeping men, Naruto and Kakashi moved out with agitated nerves towards the flickering flame of the enemy fire. There was a nervous patter in Kakashi's chest, where Naruto's hopes to find Sakura safe had kindled. He could feel the heat of the fire now, and make out some of the banter that the rouge ninja had been yelling over for quite some time,

"We weren't going to get anything out of her anyway," one said, "she was a tough bitch, probably learned it from that slut hokage of theirs…"

"I still can't believe she bit me though," another whined, nursing a wrapped hand that now held a liquor bottle, "what kind of person bites another person?"

Well we don't have to worry about it now," a third spoke again, wrapping his arm around a small figure to his left. Kakashi heard Naruto take a breath as they stopped in the underbrush that gathered right before the campsite.

Upon closer inspection, the small figure actually appeared to be a woman, her hair damp and matted with blood and dirt. Sakura's usually bright green eyes had gone dark, and as they stared vacantly at the fire it had become clear that she had been caught up in some sort of genjutsu.

"Ahhh!" Naruto burst from the brush, flinging himself directly into the throng of ninja, before Kakashi cursed, and followed suit, Naruto was able to knock one out completely due to his surprise attack, but with his battle cry he had alerted the sleeping men, resulting in what sounded like an altercation between the rouges and Sai.

"Grab her!" Naruto called, as four copies appeared, assaulting the other men and causing the perfect distraction. Racing through the camp, Kakashi ran up to the ninja with his arm wrapped around Sakura's frame, lightening gathering in his hand so quickly that he could already feel the chakra burns on his fingertips. The Rouge laughed, letting a blade slip from his sleeve, hovering its tip dangerously close to Sakura's bruised neck.

"Come any closer, and I'll spill her insides on your boots."

Somewhere behind him, Kakashi heard the noise of Naruto's clones disappearing, steel slipping against steel as two kunai clashed.

"I'll ask you once," Kakashi said, his voice deathly calm, "hand her over, or I will destroy the ground where you stand."

The ninja laughed, the blade causing slow beads of crimson to slip from Sakura's neck, no flicker of recognition even passed through her eyes.

Kakashi's chidori slammed into ground, the earth rippling like water before bursting in the space where the rogue ninja once stood. The man had nearly avoided it, using his chakra to lift himself high into the air. Kakashi read his opponents movements quickly, shadowing him into the sky, before making the signs for fire, and blowing a straight line of flames towards his enemy's head.

Surprised, the rogue man lost his grip on Sakura's waist, letting her body hurtle towards the ground as he lifted his hands in pain towards a scorched face. Kakashi took this moment to go after Sakura's descending body, only having a second to wrap his body around hers before bracing the impact of the harsh ground below. A pain ripped through him as rocks and twigs prodded at his back, and his legs burned as he slid to a stop against a thick tree trunk.

"You fool!" the rogue ninja came up to them, his right eye swollen shut as a nasty char darkened half his face, he brought with his anger the scent of burn flesh and hair, "can't you see she's dead?"

Kakashi looked down at the young kunoichi, eyes still unseeing. There was a gash to her head that still seemed to trickle, and her skin, usually a milky silk, was now washed out to something similar to Sai's coloring, her heartbeat almost unnoticeable.

"I will protect this girl with my last breath," Kakashi said evenly, challenging his opponent to come closer, "but you should know, it is you who will die here."

"As will you," the man grumbled, as a second man stood next to him, one of Sai's men no doubt.

"Give up now, Kakashi of the leaf village," the second man spoke, his body scared from many battles, one eyes clouded over, "there is no use fighting over a corpse."

Kakashi rose to his feet, finding that one of his shoulders was already protesting, and positioned Sakura carefully on his back, holding her there carefully with one arm. Sai's voice could be heard somewhere to his left, barking orders at Naruto, it appeared their fights had combined.

"If this is what you want," the first man laughed, "I will take great pleasure in crushing that girl's skull in front of you."

Kakashi wanted to laugh, pushing his mask down, and placing a kunai in his mouth, and forming another chidori in his only free hand. These thugs would never understand; they would never even be able to fathom the fact that he had come here to get hurt.

"You might as well do your worst to me." He replied, between the tastes of metal in his mouth. The memory of Sakura before she left for this dreadful mission filled his thoughts.

_ "What are you doing here?" he had muttered, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as Sakura smiled nervously up at him._

_ "Still sleeping, sensei?" there was a blush on her cheeks, as she played with an envelope between her hands, her fingers tapping against the white paper._

_ "Sakura," his voice was all authority, "what are you doing here?" her hair was perfectly straight, her eyes brightened with the slight hint of something shimmery on her eyelids, her lashes longer. The crimson in her cheeks darkened, and Kakashi leaned against his doorframe in exhaustion,_

_ "Did you come here to get hurt?" he knew he would throw her off guard, she had been so sure that she hadn't been obvious, so sure she hadn't let on to her growing crush._

_ "Wh-what?" she stammered out, eyes round in shock. Kakashi, sighed, knowing that if he hadn't been looking so hard at the young woman, that maybe he never would have noticed how much kinder she had been to him lately, maybe he wouldn't let her come over so easily, maybe he wouldn't have found it thrilling that the little bit of makeup she had applied today had been for him._

_ "That's what will happen," he said softly, looking at her lips instead of her eyes, "if I let you say what you came here to say, you will get hurt." _

_ Instead of frowning, or crying like she had with Sasuke, Sakura merely pouted, crossing her arms over herself in slight irritation, _

_ "I'm not an idiot, Kakashi," she huffed, her eyes turning an evil glint of lime,_

_ "What?" he asked, his shoulder slipping slightly from the frame,_

_ "Don't think I don't see the way you look at me," she said with an air of confidence, as it was Kakashi's turn to blush, "here."_

_ Sakura thrust the envelope into Kakashi's hand, letting hers linger for a second, rolling small circles into his knuckle with her index finger._

_ "I'll be going on a mission in the next day or so, it shouldn't take long. Open the envelope, think things over, and when I get back you owe me a drink." Withdrawing her hand, she gave Kakashi a quick wink and a wave before walking away, a silly bounce in her step._

Sakura's body moved heavily against his back, her muscles lacking life as she ragdolled behind him as his chidori ran its way through the first ninja's heart. The man screamed out, blood gurgling from his lips before finally slumping to his knees, and finally face first into the dirt.

The second ninja wasted no time in confronting Kakashi, his attacks swift and unforgiving.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled from somewhere behind him, "incoming!"

Moving to the side, Kakashi turned quickly to see a kunai in the place he once stood, as one of Naruto's opponents rushed towards him, drawing four more kunai from his side pouch.

"Die!" he called out, forcing the blades out from his fingertips with a controlled chakra that made them curve and charge straight for Kakashi's back; straight for Sakura.

Kakashi moved quickly, taking each kunai to the chest, and then rushing chakra to the balls of his feet to climb the nearest tree.

"You won't get far from us, Kakashi Hatake!" called one of the men below, followed by the chortled laughter of his brethren. Twigs snapped and cracked, alerting Kakashi that his enemies had ascended with him,

"Dammit," he gasped, feeling each kunai that still rested in his flak jacket, rooted in fabric and flesh. Three more kunai flew from the thicket of branches that surrounded him, and he managed to block two of them with a kunai of his own, the other planting itself in his wrist.

"Give up old man!" his enemies taunted, as the blood loss became apparent along with something more dangerous; poison.

"I won't last long here." Kakashi panted, readjusting Sakura before making one final jump to the top of the tree.

"There's nowhere left to run, Hatake." The leader smirked, "you ran yourself into a corner."

"You still don't understand," Kakashi laughed, slowly preparing explosive tags for his remaining kunai, "you might as well do your worst to me, I came here to get hurt."

"Wha?" they looked at the man suspiciously, but Kakashi couldn't stop talking otherwise their attention might shift to the arsenal behind his back.

"If you've come to take her away from me, then you might as well do your worst to me."

One of the men stepped forward, but it was too late, the kunai were ready, and with one final call, Kakashi threw them his attackers' feet. The explosion snapped and splintered the tops of the trees, forcing giant shards of branch to shred apart his foe. Falling between the trees, Kakashi moved Sakura's body to his front, wrapping his arms protectively around her in order to shield her from the wood that flew around them.

The ground hit Kakashi suddenly; knocking the air out of him, and making each hit he'd taken feel that much worse. Two figures approached him, but his arms seemed too heavy to move,

"Stay back!" he growled, hugging Sakura's body closer to his, "you can't take her away from me!"

"Sensei," Naruto called, his figure still blurry and somewhat distorted from the poison that was now rushing through Kakashi's veins, "it's alright Sensei, no one's coming after us anymore." Naruto's voice sounded sad and far away, but his words helped Kakashi relax, his arms loosening from around Sakura, who still had not stirred.

"Go," Kakashi sighed, signaling the boys to remove Sakura from him, "get her back home as quickly as possible, the dogs should be around, send them ahead to warn the hokage of your return."

"We can't leave you like this," Sai crouched next to Kakashi, examining his poor state, "you won't make the journey back in the condition you're in now."

Kakashi wanted to laugh, Sai was so calm, if it had been Sakura looking him over, she would have smacked him over the head for being so reckless.

"Go," Kakashi ordered once more, a finality in his voice that even Naruto didn't dare rebel against.

With the strength he had left, Kakashi moved to the envelope in his pocket, opening it to reveal an image inside.

_"I finally found a picture of us,"_ it read, "_We should do this again sometime."-Love Sakura_

Smiling to himself, Kakashi looked down at the image of himself and Sakura. The picture had been taken on her nineteenth birthday, at a pub just outside of the village, her eyes hooded but none the less dazzling as she looked into the camera. Her mouth was frozen in a laugh, as Kakashi's not so sober face rested up against hers, his eyes just as hooded as he stared at his young kunoichi with a look of adoration and affection.

"Mah," Kakashi chuckled, holding the image to his heart, his eyes growing heavy, "I've been such a fool."


End file.
